It's time for my annual Weekend R&R thread. This is the third or fourth - which is not very many considering I've owned my NX1600 since December 1992. My first post in this thread is going to be short and simple.

GTi-R SR20DET:D

I think we should change the name of this thread to Winter R&R (as most of our projects take more than a weekend's time to complete) ;)

Here is my first submission:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l56/wojtekj/ControlArm.jpg

Looks awsome wojtek , not the prettyest but they will work great :)

Cant wait for the spring , I will be bringing my 92 hardtop (u13 swap) out or the 92 GTIR but I am scared to break it :(

It has been a while since I've posted anything. Not because I haven't had anything to say, but my work and hobbies have been keeping me pretty busy. Plus after 19 years of running the GA16 and literally causing disbelief with the times that it has gathered on the track, I've pulled it and parked it in a corner of my garage. Here's why!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_jWp4ASZfJ5s/TZUy4_tYAhI/AAAAAAAABiM/nw4KMzQlyYY/s640/IMG_8401.JPGhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_jWp4ASZfJ5s/TZUy24R6wKI/AAAAAAAABiI/O6Q9EFSShYw/s640/IMG_8403.JPG
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_jWp4ASZfJ5s/TZUy8QQFFgI/AAAAAAAABiQ/rM5k8ozL9mo/s640/IMG_8447.JPG
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_jWp4ASZfJ5s/TZU6bGtpkII/AAAAAAAABig/9UmmLWAS4H4/s640/IMG_8441.JPG

I have owned my 92 NX1600 since December 1992. Since 2001 or 2 I've been thinking about a GTi-R swap. I've actually purchased two NX2000s and a 200sx SE-R with the thought of a swap but never followed through on it. A year ago I found out about a GTi-R clip that had been purchased a decade ago for a project that never occurred. It has been stored less than ten minutes drive from my house that entire time. Last fall I bought it. This engine looked pristine - each of the heat shield bolts came out perfectly (just an example of the great shape of this engine). Compression is 150, 150, 150 and 145. The engine and ECU are stock GTi-R and that's radical enough for the next year or two. Yesterday virtually everything was completed and now it is time to break the engine in. The SR and GTi-R community stepped up to ensure that I was able to complete this. Specifically nxpartsource, lynx, fastnx, and jkho. Greg at G Spec stepped up and helped me out by slashing what could have been a month long project delay to a few hours. Major props. Thanks to Mike, Jeff and Wes for their inspiration and positive support.
Thanks to Scott at Can-Alignment http://www.canalignment.com He's racecartech on the SR forum! I cannot say enough about his creativity, professionalism and ability to take a challenging project from start to finish. Scott has done my alignments for a few years now - this was obviously a much larger project. March 9 to 16 was 12 to 16 hour days - and a number of evenings and full weekends since then. What a great shop! What an amazing installation!

Frank, you are taking your car to another level with this swap!

As for my update, I have not had too much time to work on my car but now that the weather is getting better I am starting to start putting the car together. I will be changing the front suspension fixing the roll center, dynamic camber curve and dialing in more caster with these control arms:

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l56/wojtekj/custom_arms.jpg

I will be also installing bumpsteer kit to further improve cornering feel. I also was forced to remove my tranny as the clutch disk failed at the end of my last track day last season with the cracked spring retainer on my B15 disk, so decided to install this disk which has its springs a little more protected (new disk on the left, old and damaged B15 disk on the right) :

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l56/wojtekj/clutchdisk.jpg

Can't wait to try this combo and see how the NX will handle.

Looks very good, Wojtek.
I've got more info and More pics available (http://www.motoiq.com/forum/aff/34/aft/979/afv/topic/afpgj/1.aspx) on motoiq.com

I just went for the first real drive.
WOW!

Frank,

The car looks great. It would be easy to mistake the engine for something that came in the car from the dealer. Nice job Frank and Scott.

Wojtek,

You might want to put a big red label on the brake pedal to remind yourself that it is still there. You might not need it anymore on the track :tongue:

Thanks Jeff, although in case I'll be still using my brakes a bit (as I do have 2 kids that I want to see grow up) I am close to the end of fabricating front brake cooling - will post some pictures once I'm done.

The biggest challenge now is to align the car (and unfortunately my funds do not allow me to have Scott perform his magic, so it's just me and my measuring tape :) ).

Last year I could only get ~2.5 deg of camber out of my cusco plates, this year I will have more caster (I am afraid it might be too much, hence the offset bushings are out and straight ES in), increased front track will allow me to get much more caster (aiming for 3 deg as a starting point for testing, perhaps less due to the caster and dynamic camber curve), I am also ready to set the rear bar on middle settings (currently on stiffest) as it might not be needed as much due to improved front end geometry. Progress adjustable front bar will be next on my wish list (to improve stability), maybe next year...

Can't wait to get out there and see how different it behaves in the corners!

Cool. I have Progress bars set to full stiff front and rear and it feels like I could use more stiffness on both!

Update Pics:

Here is the updated setup of the new control arm and anti bumpsteer kit as well as my new brake cooling setup ($30 in parts + welding, shaping few metal pieces):
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l56/wojtekj/NewSuspSetup.jpg

Aiming straight in the middle of the hub/rotor:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l56/wojtekj/Vent.jpg

For now I left it open without any duct (tried on shop vac ends but were too big and would interfere with the tire when turned), will install a mesh to minimize foreign objects getting to the hub/rotor area:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l56/wojtekj/NewSuspSetup2.jpg

You are ready for some serious driving!

You are ready for some serious driving!

uhhhhh, look who's talking :biggthump

You are ready for some serious driving!

Thanks Frank but as per Jeff's point, your mods will make your car fly!

Drove my car last weekend and the car drove worse than before, when I checked the alignment it had 1" toe in, the alignment is very tricky as 0 toe on ride height shows crazy toe out (~2" total) when it's raised. I haven't driven it after the final alignment setting.

One things that I have noticed is a crazy caster these arms provided (the front of the tire almost rubs against the fender)! I will have to test it on a smaller track before I go to GP track on May 27th.

With those massive front end changes I would seriously urge you to find a way to get Scott to work on it. You have mad skills, but this might be too much.

Over 1000 kilometres on my new drivetrain as a daily driver. I'm looking for a G20 Canadian transmission speed sensor/gearing - other than that it's a very civilized car. Well, it's civilized if I can stay off the gas!

With those massive front end changes I would seriously urge you to find a way to get Scott to work on it. You have mad skills, but this might be too much.

Over 1000 kilometres on my new drivetrain as a daily driver. I'm looking for a G20 Canadian transmission speed sensor/gearing - other than that it's a very civilized car. Well, it's civilized if I can stay off the gas!


Wow, 1,000 km already on the setup, how does the gearing of the B13 tranny matches this engine?
I wish I could let Scott do his magic on my NX, but due to house renovations my car/track budget is almost nil - trust me corner weighing/alignment is on my wish/dream list.
Well, I did the best I could with the alignment and set to 0 toe front with 3deg camber and found the car much more responsive and tossable but at the same time very stable (this is based on limited street driving without braking too many rules) and I anticipate it to be quite a different animal on the track.

The transmission is from a 1999 Infiniti G20. Thanks to Hanzzz I have a spare 99 G20 transmission waiting on the sidelines. I have a US speed sensor so the speedometer is way off, I'm using a GPS to keep me on track. I'm very comfortable with the gearing this has - seems about perfect.

After May 27 I can possibly report on how well it all works:D

I was at Mosport on the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the trip from 5 to 8 - and everywhere else also - but 5 to 8 has always been a challenge with the 1.6 litre engine. The GTi-R engine just pulls all the way through. This was a test weekend and it revealed a few flaws. It was still sweater/spring coat weather even at the warmest part of the day yet after being out for ten to fifteen minutes the car needed the heat on full and cool down laps to start as it was getting really hot. I've also got a bad axle, therefore I couldn't really push through any of the right hand corners. It was not too bad though, as one of the Porsche GT3 drivers that I've shared the track with before commented how, as I hung with him for a while, that my car was much faster than last year. So here's my solution to the overheating. The first pic is with my vented track hood, the second with my street hood.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-sN45FOKYX6s/TeIsuuMjlYI/AAAAAAAABtA/rzGOjpyCN5M/s576/IMG_2289.JPG
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-7qaFQuqVajE/TeItgfeWJII/AAAAAAAABtc/_XP22CYzR68/s576/IMG_2296.JPG
And here are a few inside pics:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-hpce5S7kc1s/TeIrHq7H8WI/AAAAAAAABsk/qum2tPABW8k/s576/IMG_2293.JPG
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PdLvDZxBQ6Y/TeIqyR3BzvI/AAAAAAAABsQ/mwgvqitWw-0/s576/IMG_2291.JPG